HID Global Collaborates with Fidesmo to Expand the Use of Wearables for Access Control and a Wide Range of New Applications

AUSTIN, Texas, April 23, 2020 – HID Global, a worldwide leader in trusted identity solutions, today announced a collaboration with Fidesmo, a provisioning company that makes it possible to connect contactless services to wearables. Fidesmo has integrated HID’s next generation Seos® credential technology into secure element chips that are used in a wide variety of wearables.

“As wearables grow in popularity, organizations of all types will be confronted with the need to support new form factors for physical access and other popular applications,” said Steve Currie, VP and Managing Director of Extended Access Technologies with HID Global. “Working with Fidesmo to bring more use cases to wearables delivers on the promise of Seos credential technology to provide users the freedom to use their preferred device, whether it’s a phone, card or wearable, to easily navigate their daily life.”

Because Seos credential technology is designed for flexibility, Fidesmo can load the Seos applet into the tamper-resistant secure elements (SE) produced by the most prominent chipmakers in the world. This will enable wearables manufacturers using the broadest range of SE chips to add building and parking access as well as complimentary applications to their smart watches, watchbands, rings and other devices. Authentication to PCs, IT systems and cloud applications, secure print job collection, time and attendance, point of sale, and automated cashless vending, are some of the numerous additional applications supported by Seos credential technology.

“The Fidesmo team is honored to join HID’s partner network and looking forward to our mutual journey as we provision HID’s secure access credentials over our platform,” said Mattias Eld, CEO, Co-Founder of Fidesmo. “Working with HID we are forwarding our vision to enable people to choose their favorite wearable and connect and use it with any contactless service they need – anytime, anywhere.”

The partnership makes it possible for employees to use their personal wearable device to add the access control service, and companies can also order a number of wearables for their dedicated use, in special areas or even adding more services to them, like payment or their employees' public transit job ticket.

Fidesmo’s integration process allows wearables manufacturers to add contactless services to the tamper-resistant secure element in their devices. This also makes it possible for contactless service providers to distribute their services to many devices without the need for hardware. For wearables users, no pre-configuration is needed. They simply connect to the services and applications that have been provisioned to their wearable, easily and securely.

Adding access control capabilities to wearables also addresses environmental constraints, such as a clean room with specific gear and uniforms that preclude using smart cards and/or biometric identification—making it ideal for pharmaceutical production environments, as well as operations rooms, mining, car and food production, and anywhere where sanitization compliance is a priority.

About HID Global

HID Global powers the trusted identities of the world’s people, places and things. We make it possible for people to transact safely, work productively and travel freely. Our trusted identity solutions give people convenient access to physical and digital places and connect things that can be identified, verified and tracked digitally. Millions of people around the world use HID products and services to navigate their everyday lives, and over 2 billion things are connected through HID technology. We work with governments, educational institutions, hospitals, financial institutions, industrial businesses and some of the most innovative companies on the planet.

Headquartered in Austin, Texas, HID Global has over 4,000 employees worldwide and operates international offices that support more than 100 countries. HID Global is an ASSA ABLOY Group brand. For more information, visit www.hidglobal.com.